Linda M. Castellitto

NonfictionMemoirMedicine

The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

In her new memoir, The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, Sarah Ramey writes about the 2012 day her music video featuring her alter ego, Wolf Larsen, premiered on NPR. It starred a red-lipsticked, vibrant version of herself, and it went viral online while she remained ill, exhausted, frustrated and alone at home.

This moment is but one of many, many times Ramey struggled to put on a happy face while her reality was much more painful. She is what she calls a WOMI, or “woman with a mysterious illness.” In the last 30 years, instances of autoimmune illnesses have tripled, and our medical system has not yet developed a respectful, effective way of working with such patients. Instead, skepticism and dismissiveness (the classic it’s-all-in-your-head response) is the norm, writes Ramey, and people, predominantly women, are staying sick.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our interview with Sarah Ramey.

Ramey’s angry about that, and she explains why with intelligence, humor and impressively thorough and far-ranging research into the various ailments that stem from trauma, exposure to harmful chemicals, consumption of unreal foods, overuse of antibiotics and more—diseases that defy easy diagnosis and a straightforward cure. They’re often invisible, too: WOMIs may look great even as they feel their worst, and that only increases the doubt among medical professionals, or even family or friends.

Ramey shares her own personal health journey, including conventional and alternative treatments; strategies she’s tried that have brought relief (or haven’t); and what she’s learned about the immune system and the gut. She also makes an impassioned case for profound change in our health care system, which, she argues, is out of balance because it lacks consideration and compassion: “We excel at acute (heroic, eliminate the bad guy) illness and can’t for the life of us solve chronic (heroinic, root system) illness.” She urges readers, especially those who are WOMIs, to be open to sharing their stories and asking for change, in an effort to bring about a cultural shift before it’s too late—since what we’re doing now clearly isn’t working for millions of people.

The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness is a stirring and inspiring rallying cry, an engaging and often harrowing personal story (or, as Ramey quips, “a kicky memoir about my gyno-rectal disease”) and an eminently worthwhile read.

In her new memoir, The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, Sarah Ramey writes about the 2012 day her music video featuring her alter ego, Wolf Larsen, premiered on NPR. It starred a red-lipsticked, vibrant version of herself, and it went viral online while she…

Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

No Bad Deed

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Heather Chavez’s No Bad Deed is a fast-paced, high-anxiety tale of a good Samaritan’s offer of assistance gone very, very wrong. On her drive home from work after a 12-hour shift at her veterinarian practice, Cassie Larkin pulls over to mop up a spilled drink—and sees a man throw a woman into a ravine.

A shocked Cassie calls 911 and, despite the dispatcher’s exhortations to stay in her minivan, she gets out and stumbles down a steep hill in an attempt to save the woman. The attacker offers a terrifying bargain—“Let her die and I’ll let you live”—before running off, stealing Cassie’s van (as well as her wallet and keys) along the way. The woman lives, and Cassie pushes through her shock and fear to give a statement to Detective Ray Rico, who tells her, “Every crime is personal, even the random ones.” But Cassie can’t imagine how on earth this crime could have anything to do with her, nor can she figure out why Rico seems to be regarding her with skepticism rather than focusing on catching the criminal who knows where she lives and has the keys to her house.

Exhausted and distraught, she pushes the weirdness aside and goes home, hoping the police will soon catch said criminal and resolving to start fresh tomorrow. Alas, rather than a festive day with a candy-filled finale, Cassie’s Halloween ends on a strange and terrifying note. Her husband Sam takes their 6-year-old daughter trick-or-treating and then disappears. Cassie wonders if he’s having an affair, but can’t believe that he would abandon their child.

Chavez, a former newspaper reporter, does an excellent job of pulling the reader along with Cassie as she tears around town assembling clues in an effort to figure out what the hell is going on. Thanks to the uncanny timing, Cassie wonders if Sam’s disappearance is related to the bizarre assault she witnessed. That would be a wild coincidence, but as the hours pass and the danger and strangeness increases, Cassie’s sense of reality warps and changes, and her instincts are increasingly at odds with what she’s seeing and hearing.

No Bad Deed is an exciting exploration of what might happen when a person’s ordinary life is suddenly thrown into chaos, and knowing whom or what to trust is no longer possible. It’s also a delightfully Harlan Coben-esque tale of the ways in which the past can influence the present—for better or much, much worse.

Heather Chavez’s No Bad Deed is a fast-paced, high-anxiety tale of a good Samaritan’s offer of assistance gone very, very wrong.

NonfictionTrue CrimeAnimals

The Falcon Thief

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Typically, the phrase “true crime” brings to mind stories of serial murderers—not of, say, thieves and traffickers of rare eggs. But in The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird, Joshua Hammer (The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu) has crafted a story that will fascinate readers craving a dramatic true tale of confident criminals, denizens of shadowy underworlds and the law enforcers who strive to catch and punish them.

First, the bad guy. Jeffrey Lendrum is an audacious criminal who travels the world stealing rare eggs from birds of prey and selling them to uber-wealthy falcon enthusiasts in the United Arab Emirates. Our hero, Andy McWilliam, is a career police officer who rose to the top of the U.K.’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, thanks to his success tracking and capturing wildlife-related criminals such as badger-baiters, zookeepers and real estate developers. But his specialization, of course, is ornithological crime solving.

Hammer’s exploration of the factors that culminated in egg trafficking is thorough and fascinating, offering context and entertainment alike. He plumbs the origins of falconry, which began as a means of survival (peregrines were trained hunters) and over the centuries evolved into the high-dollar, high-stakes sport it is today. In Dubai, there’s a falcon hospital, research center and the President Cup, a racing event with an $11 million purse. It’s mind-boggling, but in Hammer’s hands it makes a bizarre kind of sense: Rather than collecting jerseys and memorizing stats, falcon-obsessed men (they’re all men, it seems) steal and collect eggs, keep meticulous notes and are always planning their next get. The wealthiest members of this group in the UAE hire out such tasks to men like Lendrum who thrive on the adrenaline rush of plundering nature.

Hammer paints a vivid portrait of the thrill of the chase and the long-term relationship between criminal and police officer—both of them smart and daring, neither of them willing to give up. The Falcon Thief also shines a light on the world of wildlife crime: its perpetrators, addicted to their pursuits; its wealthy and Machiavellian masterminds; and our heroes, who work toward ensuring that all creatures are safe from the greedy and devious few. Ultimately, this book is a fine tribute to McWilliam and to others dedicated to conservation, and a compelling deep dive into the psyche of a very specific sort of criminal.

Typically, the phrase “true crime” brings to mind stories of serial murderers—not of, say, thieves and traffickers of rare eggs. But in The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird, Joshua Hammer (The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu)…

Mystery & SuspenseMystery

First Cut

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

In Dr. Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell’s First Cut, medical examiner Dr. Jessie Teska works on the victims of “sudden, violent, and unexpected deaths,” from accidents to suicide to murder. And in Jessie’s first week at her new job, a homicide case launches her life into chaos: A young woman has died from a drug overdose and, it turns out, used to work for one of Jessie’s mercurial new bosses. His reaction makes Jessie wonder if it’s an innocent connection or something darker—but how will she balance a proper investigation with complicated, unfamiliar office politics?

Questions mount and danger rises as Jessie strives to juggle a heavy caseload, leave past hurts behind and figure out whom she can (and cannot) trust. Drug dealers, detectives, lawyers and bitcoin brokers figure into this atmospheric, San Francisco-set tale, which is peppered with humor thanks to Jessie’s wit, as well as Bea the high-spirited beagle and Sparkle the whip-smart bail-bonds lady. Jessie’s forays into dating and romance add sexy fun, and her musings on our collective corporeal vulnerability are by turns humbling (“The cops could drag their feet and stonewall . . . all they want. The body never lies.”) and alarming (à la lists of cases like “jaywalker hit by a bus, a gunshot suicide, a skateboard versus a hydrant, and a stabbing homicide”).

The married authors—whose first book was the bestselling 2014 memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner—expertly employ their know-how, maintaining blood-and-guts vérité while empathetically exploring what it’s like to do a job with actual life-and-death stakes. First Cut is a fascinating, entertaining series kickoff, with a particularly kickass heroine.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell.

In Dr. Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell’s First Cut, medical examiner Dr. Jessie Teska works on the victims of “sudden, violent, and unexpected deaths,” from accidents to suicide to murder.

NonfictionArts & Culture

Don’t Believe a Word

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Remember when Madonna moved to England and her accent became quite posh? According to David Shariatmadari, we shouldn’t scoff at the pop superstar, or at anyone else whose accent changes with their location. They can’t help it, thanks to a linguistic phenomenon called accommodation.

That’s but one interesting tidbit in the information-packed Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language. Shariatmadari, a Londoner and editor at The Guardian, has crafted an intensive course for the curious novice and seasoned linguist alike. Via the book’s nine chapters, he explores and debunks common myths about language by way of history, scholarship, societal trends and his own passionate views on all of the above.

The biggest myth is one with teeth: Someone’s always complaining that language is in decline. It is not, the author says; rather, it’s just people making “statements of preference for the way of doing things they have become used to,” versus any actual damage to the way we communicate. He also argues that etymology, or the background and history of words, is not the only way to determine meaning. While those elements are fascinating, he writes, they’re largely irrelevant to what truly matters: “explaining language as it is now.”

Shariatmadari thoughtfully addresses the roles of politics, power and geography regarding how we speak, as well as which languages are considered valuable (or not)—most notably in regard to African American Vernacular English (AAVE). He also offers a history of the word toilet; explains why AI speech will never truly sound human; asserts that Italian is a dialect, not a language; ponders whether we can talk to animals; and much more.

Right now is an “exciting phase” in the study of linguistics, and Shariatmadari thinks we should be excited, too. After all, he writes, people “shouldn’t just settle for knowing how to use [language]. To understand it is to understand what it means to be human.” Don’t Believe a Word is a heartfelt and illuminating starting point on the path to that understanding.

Remember when Madonna moved to England and her accent became quite posh? According to David Shariatmadari, we shouldn’t scoff at the pop superstar, or at anyone else whose accent changes with their location. They can’t help it, thanks to a linguistic phenomenon called accommodation.

That’s…

NonfictionEuropean HistoryBiography

Walter Ralegh

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Every hero has an origin story, rife with obstacles overcome, devastations endured and triumphs achieved. As historian, professor and author Alan Gallay elucidates in Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire, Sir Walter Ralegh is no different. In fact, Gallay argues, although Ralegh did join his contemporaries in continual and violent efforts to gain land and power for Queen Elizabeth I, his philosophy and approach were different from—and more admirable than—the rest, and should be remembered as such.

Gallay, the Lyndon B. Johnson chair of U.S. history at Texas Christian University and author of the Bancroft Prize-winning The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670–1717, has long immersed himself in studies of the Atlantic region of the American South. And, as he notes in his acknowledgments, he’s wanted to write about Walter Ralegh for 15 years. This book is the culmination of long-term, intensive research. It’s Gallay’s case for considering Ralegh not as a failure (due to the widely known fate of the Roanoke Colony in Virginia and to Ralegh’s unsuccessful search for the legendary city of El Dorado) but as an intelligent, creative and influential man.

According to Gallay, many biographies of Ralegh “fail to see the Tudor context in which he lived and in which the [British] empire unfolded.” The author devotes considerable attention to said context, from explaining that Queen Elizabeth I was viewed as a vengeful goddess to detailing the ways in which Ralegh and his fellow colonizers disagreed on how to view the occupants of the land they colonized. (Ralegh preferred the utopian goal of partnering. His fellow courtiers leaned toward enslavement.) Gallay also describes British forays into Ireland, North America and South America in extensive, sometimes suspenseful, detail, and takes an in-depth look at the politics behind Ralegh’s imprisonments in the Tower of London and his eventual punishment by death.

Gallay has crafted a richly detailed portrait of a courtier, poet, author and alchemist who, he argues, should inspire readers to approach history from a different angle. Rather than teleology, or “reading history backward from what occurred at its end,” we’d do well to start from the beginning and learn how people like Ralegh’s “activities and ideas paved the way forward.”

Every hero has an origin story, rife with obstacles overcome, devastations endured and triumphs achieved. As historian, professor and author Alan Gallay elucidates in Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire, Sir Walter Ralegh is no different. In fact, Gallay argues, although Ralegh did join his contemporaries…

YA FictionYA

Crying Laughing

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Comedy nerds and curious newbies alike will LOL at the improv-infused Crying Laughing. 

Winnie Friedman finds herself highly amusing, but the aspiring comedian has sworn off performing after bombing at her bat mitzvah. When she’s invited to join a comedy troupe, however, Winnie decides to give the stage another shot. Then she learns that her father, a former comedian, has been diagnosed with ALS. He’s been keeping it from her and downplaying it with others, to her mom’s frustration. Winnie doesn’t want to take sides—at home or at school, where her best friends are in conflict—but she’s stressed out. On top of all this, she also has to read Tess of the d’Urbervilles, “which doesn’t seem funny at all,” and figure out the rules of improv games like Nameball, Zip-Zap-Zop and Harold. 

Thanks to his own comedy chops, Lance Rubin (Denton Little’s Deathdate) expertly explains the aforementioned games as Winnie masters them. Readers will cheer her on even as they cringe-laugh sympathetically. Crying Laughing offers insight into why it can be good to be unfunny, and gently but firmly advocates for facing up to feelings, even scary ones. Winnie’s rapid-fire internal voice and awkward dating experiences are a hoot, and her relationships are infused with compassion and nuance. 

This sweet and appealing story celebrates kindness, wit, perseverance and “the most passive-aggressive grocery unpacking of all time.” Ha!

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go behind the book with Crying Laughing author Lance Rubin.

Comedy nerds and curious newbies alike will LOL at the improv-infused Crying Laughing. 

Winnie Friedman finds herself highly amusing, but the aspiring comedian has sworn off performing after bombing at her bat mitzvah. When she’s invited to join a comedy troupe, however, Winnie decides to…

YA FictionYA

Gravity

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Gravity “Doomsday” Delgado is a true badass. She joined PLASMAFuel Cops ’n Kids boxing gym when she was 12 years old and trained every single day without fail. Now 16, she’s an accomplished fighter with a real chance at making the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Gravity is her story, the brainchild of Sarah Deming, herself a New York Golden Gloves champion, Pushcart Prize-winner and current boxing coach.

Gravity’s life is a lot for an ordinary teenager to handle, let alone one who’s trying to win Olympic gold. Her mom is a cruel and neglectful alcoholic; her father left when she was just 8 years old. Fortunately, her Aunty Rosa and cousin Melsy are kind and supportive, and her little brother Ty is sweet when he’s not being annoying. Still, Gravity’s life isn’t so different from the other kids she trains with, fighters with names like D-Minus, Monster, Svetlana and Lefty — an eclectic group, all with the desire to be champions. Sleazy coaches, corrupt referees, poverty-induced stress and workday temptations all act as roadblocks to success, but Gravity persists in a story that is by turns suspenseful, funny and thrilling.

Deming skillfully conveys necessary information about how the boxing-competition circuit works, with an assist from interspersed articles by Carmen Cruz, a women’s boxing expert who follows the team from gym to arena, posting dispatches and building narrative tension along the way. Gravity struggles with questions of identity, both with regard to her Dominican Jewish heritage and her efforts to discern what’s important and what’s worth letting go of—inside and outside the ring.

Gravity is an entertaining and engrossing novel, with lots of boxing-centric detail (daily training, making weight, the sound of a punch, the feeling of victory) and well-timed doses of drama. There’s also occasional romantic fun and deep yet beautiful sorrow, too. Gravity’s coming-of-age tale will resonate with readers of all stripes, thanks to its emotional underpinnings and a heroine who embodies the thrill—and value—of a good fight.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our interview with Gravity author Sarah Deming.

Gravity “Doomsday” Delgado is a true badass. She joined PLASMAFuel Cops ’n Kids boxing gym when she was 12 years old and trained every single day without fail. Now 16, she’s an accomplished fighter with a real chance at making the 2016 Summer Olympics in…

Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Strangers at the Gate

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

In Catriona McPherson’s new thriller, Strangers at the Gate, Finn and her husband Paddy Lamb have a helluva week.

Things start out promisingly enough for the couple, who are making multiple life changes all at once. Paddy’s got a new law-partner job, Finn’s going to be a deacon and they’re leaving the city to move into a gatehouse on a sprawling estate owned by Paddy’s employer. Life’s looking up, even though, to Finn, it seems almost too good to be true.

And then, things go horrifically awry: after a lovely dinner with their new benefactors (the fabulously named Lovatt and Tuft Dudgeon), the Lambs discover the Dudgeons’ very, very bloodied bodies—apparent victims of a murder-suicide. Finn and Paddy keep this gruesome discovery to themselves (they’ve got their own reasons for avoiding police scrutiny), and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . . for someone else to come upon and report the crime. In the meantime, they strive for nonchalance as they get to know their new colleagues and neighbors, including well-meaning church folk and the beautiful, enigmatic Shannon.

But as Finn struggles to acclimate to her new and creepy surroundings—such a dark and craggy landscape, so many looming trees—her paranoia grows. And it doesn’t really stop, as McPherson ramps up the tension with ever more creative revelations and twists that will have readers eager to see what on earth is coming next. It’s a fascinating study of what can happen when we suppress our instincts or aren’t sure who to trust, and a delightfully torturous day-by-day recounting of the aftermath of a life-changing lie: everyone seems suspicious, using the proper verb tense is suddenly crucial and eccentricity begins to feel a lot more sinister.

Fans of McPherson’s award-winning work (the Dandy Gilver and Lexy Campbell series, plus numerous standalone novels) will relish whipping right through Strangers at the Gate, guessing and gasping all the way.

In Catriona McPherson’s new thriller, Strangers at the Gate, Finn and her husband Paddy Lamb have a helluva week.

FictionThriller

Beijing Payback

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

What if someone you loved died and left you a letter plus a few important items? And the letter turned out to be a to-do list for vengeance? And those things were not mementos, but rather a gun, a counterfeit passport and some cash?

In Beijing Payback, California college student Victor Li and his sister, Jules, are stunned when their father, Vincent, a beloved owner of three Chinese restaurants, is murdered. In short order, they discover the aforementioned bizarre and alarming contents of their father’s safe, and a mysterious man named Sun—who knows all about their dad, though they had no idea Sun existed—shows up, ready to assist Victor in going to China to exact revenge on Vincent’s behalf.

It’s a dangerous, quite possibly fatal undertaking (for one thing, Victor’s a college athlete, not an assassin), but he ultimately decides to fulfill his dad’s wishes for one reason: Their comfortable life in suburban America wasn’t due solely to proceeds from the restaurants but from profits earned by the global crime syndicate his father and a few friends founded in post-Mao China.

This is not a typical realizing-your-parents-are-flawed story, to be sure, and debut author Daniel Nieh really goes for it, packing in action, suspense, drama, plus some humor and sexiness, too. The author’s background in Chinese-English translation serves him well, as skillfully employed language throughout evokes Victor’s ties to his Chinese heritage and reinforces his ability to move between cultures as he tries on various personas: basketball player, suave dude, loyal friend, family member . . . and righteous badass?

Drunken college parties give way to terrifying, blood-spattered encounters as the stakes grow ever higher, and Victor must reckon with the truth about his family’s past and its implications for his future in this entertaining, colorful debut.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Daniel Nieh about Beijing Payback.

What if someone you loved died and left you a letter plus a few important items? And the letter turned out to be a to-do list for vengeance? And those things were not mementos, but rather a gun, a counterfeit passport and some cash?

Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Bad Axe County

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Meet Heidi Kick: former beauty queen, current interim sheriff and her rural Wisconsin county’s best hope for a future not completely marred by crime, misogyny and general horribleness.

In the opening pages of John Galligan’s dark mystery thriller Bad Axe County, we learn that back in 2004, 18-year-old Heidi was crowned Miss Wisconsin Dairy Queen and, later that night, learned that her parents had died. The police called it murder-suicide, but she knew in her gut it wasn’t true.

Fast-forward to 2016, and Heidi’s still determined to find out the truth, this time from a better vantage point. She’s an excellent investigator and law-enforcer who’s been named interim sheriff of Bad Axe after the death of her corrupt predecessor. The late sheriff was an enthusiastic participant in the remote county’s good ol’ boy network, the members of which secured their power via nepotism, fraud and far more sinister endeavors—and will do seemingly anything to keep Heidi from being elected sheriff. Heidi soon finds herself embroiled in a search for a missing girl, Pepper Greengrass, while a major ice storm threatens to catastrophically flood the rough, wild landscape at the edge of the mighty Mississippi River.

As the action ratchets up and danger seems to loom at every turn, Galligan deftly alternates between Heidi’s and Pepper’s points of view, plus that of Angus Beavers, a former local baseball star who’s returned home to right deadly wrongs. Readers will find themselves eager to see how the various storylines will converge and wary of what shocks the next pages might reveal.

Bad Axe County is quite a ride, with its unapologetic acceptance of the presence of evil among us and its occasional sharp shots of humor and hope amid the devastation. It’s also a layered exploration of the ways that long-held secrets and shame can reach far into the future—with a suspenseful, likely gasp-inducing final act that will leave readers hoping they haven’t seen the last of Heidi, and of Bad Axe County.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with John Galligan about Bad Axe County.

Meet Heidi Kick: former beauty queen, current interim sheriff and her rural Wisconsin county’s best hope for a future not completely marred by crime, misogyny and general horribleness.

NonfictionTrue CrimeLiterature

Murder by the Book

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Claire Harman, previously a biographer of literary legends like Charlotte Brontë and Robert Louis Stevenson, has now set her sights on true crime with an intriguing, entertaining and occasionally gruesome mashup of mystery, biography, history and literary intrigue. Readers who delight in the likes of Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and the dark side of 19th-century London will find a haven here.

Harman takes a storytelling approach to a crime that was the talk of 1840s London: the murder of Lord William Russell. She sets the stage with a bloody, strange murder scene; unrest between servants and employers; and a conviction and punishment that don’t completely answer all the questions swirling around the tragic events. Woven throughout is the rising tide of blame aimed at violent novels. The wealthy became increasingly concerned that such novels were giving unsavory folk all kinds of ideas—after all, look at what happened to Lord Russell. If he wasn’t safe, who was?

Armchair detectives will enjoy following along as Harman chronicles the investigation and its suspects, as well as the ways in which authors like Charles Dickens and William Thackeray were influenced by the goings-on (and, in Dickens’ case, later spurred to social activism). In two latter sections, Harman shares further fruits of her intensive research, offering a nice differentiation from present-day true crime books that cannot yet offer historical perspective. 

A fascinating, exhaustively researched exploration into how art can influence society and vice versa, Murder by the Book: The Crime That Shocked Dickens’s London turns an unflinching eye to the ways in which biases born of economic inequality affect the way crimes are investigated and prosecuted. It’s a true crime devotee’s delight.

A fascinating, exhaustively researched exploration into how art can influence society and vice versa, Murder by the Book: The Crime That Shocked Dickens’s London turns an unflinching eye to the ways in which biases born of economic inequality affect the way crimes are investigated and prosecuted. It’s a true crime devotee’s delight.

FictionHistorical Fiction

When We Left Cuba

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

On the surface, Beatriz Perez is a gorgeous 22-year-old society woman gliding through a cycle of parties, gossip and marriage proposals along with the other moneyed elite in 1960s Palm Beach, Florida. But beneath her cool exterior burns a pure, sharp desire for revenge. In Chanel Cleeton’s When We Left Cuba, we learn that Beatriz and her family (including sister Elisa, protagonist of Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana) left Cuba after Fulgencio Batista was overthrown, Fidel Castro took power and her sugar-magnate father’s land was seized by the government. 

The Perezes moved to Palm Beach in hopes of finding a sense of safety, rebuilding the family fortune and, to Beatriz’s unending frustration, marrying off the unwed daughters. She has much bigger plans—like, say, taking down Castro so she can go home to her beloved Cuba. Thanks to her still-privileged social position and her strong bond with Eduardo, a family friend and revolutionary, she’s actually got a chance at doing so. Eduardo introduces her to a CIA agent who sees her as a good bet: She’s fierce and smart, anger has made her reckless, and her social status gives her plausibility.

But there’s a complicating factor. Beatriz and Nicholas—a smart, sexy senator-to-be—meet at a fancy party, and their chemistry is immediate and electric. Alas, he’s engaged, an arrangement orchestrated by two families that want political and financial benefits from the union. Beatriz and Nicholas understand each other on that level and so many others, from the political to the personal to the physical. But amid the aftermath of war and continued upheaval in the U.S. and Cuba, plus divergent views on how best to achieve their goals, being together often feels impossible.

An edifying, entertaining read filled with adventure, suspense, history and romance, When We Left Cuba is a thought-provoking look at the ways in which politics can be intensely personal.

An edifying, entertaining read filled with adventure, suspense, history and romance, When We Left Cuba is a thought-provoking look at the ways in which politics can be intensely personal.

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